Nonverball Communication Essay

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Nonverbal communication is a way of expressing self without the use of words. Non-verbal communication includes but is not limited to gestures, facial expressions, body language, writing, posture, touching, silence and sign language. As babies, long before we could all talk, we communicated with our parents non-verbally thus making it an inmate type of communication. From a nursing perspective, therefore, nonverbal communication is very important because it makes it possible to communicate with the deaf or those hard of hearing by using gestures, sign language, or lip reading thereby improving our quality of care. Similar to the deaf, it makes communication easier with people who may not understand your language. For example during my clinical rotations and my 3 month experience as an RN, I have come across a lot of patients who cannot express themselves in English and unfortunately we didn’t have the blue phones to interpret. In situations like these, I would and continue to communicate to my patients by use of non-verbal communication. Recently, I had a Russian patient who was always sad and never said a word apart from nodding his head. One day I found him in his room crying, and I didn’t know what was wrong, what to say and how to say it. I grabbed a chair beside him, held his hand and just stayed there with him for 10 minutes. I later learned from his daughter that he felt comforted that day that somebody cared for him. Even though there was no change of words, he was able to understand that I cared for him, and that made my day. Also, in situations where talking is not allowed such as meetings, around sterile fields, non-verbal communication makes it easier to deliver messages. Sometimes, we may fail to understand verbal communication but if followed by a gesture, a smile, a touch or a hug, then it makes communication much easier.